The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality, and Foreign Language Learning

by Smith, David I.

• ISBN13: 9780802847089
• ISBN10: 0802847080
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-04-01
• Publisher: Lightning Source Inc

Summary

A pioneering look at the implications of Christian faith for foreign language education.It has become clear in recent years that reflection on foreign language education involves more than questioning which methods work best. This new volume carries current discussions of the value-laden nature of foreign language teaching into new territory by exploring its spiritual and moral dimensions. David Smith and Barbara Carvill show how the Christian faith sheds light on the history, aims, content, and methods of foreign language education. They also propose a new approach to the field based on the Christian understanding of hospitality.

Author Biography

Barbara Carvill is professor of German language and literature at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Ron Wells
Acknowledgments	x
Introduction	xi
I. Background: Setting the Stage
From Babel to Pentecost	3	(16)
Beginnings: Early Christian Contributions to Foreign Language Education	19	(16)
Broadening Horizons: From Luther to Comenius	35	(20)
II. Aims: Embracing the Stranger
Strangers and Blessings	55	(24)
Hospitality to the Stranger	79	(26)
For Profit, Pleasure, and Power?	105	(22)
III. Practice: Implications for the Classroom
Images of Others, Images of God: The Content of the Foreign Language Course	127	(22)
Faith and Method	149	(22)
Two Case Studies: Curran's Community Language Learning and Kramsch's Critical Foreign Language Pedagogy	171	(20)
Samples from a Curriculum Project	191	(16)
Epilogue	207	(2)
Interpreting Babel	209	(8)
Select Bibliography	217	(13)
Index	230